Love in Multiples
by AvatarZjinx
Summary: She's an ambassador for the air-nomads, now that Aang has gone on a hunt for suspected sky-bison. Zuko's her only friend at the palace, but things between them are quickly getting out of hand. "Aang can never know," they agree, but when the airbender arrives at the Fire Lord's home unexpectedly, none of their training could prepared them for this challenge. (Zutara-Kataang-Zutaang)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello everyone!** I'm very excited to finally get this first chapter out, and many are soon to follow. This story is going to be an unconventional take on the Zutara/Kataang shipping. BUT: This is going to be a slow burn; I want to characters and relationships to build naturally, so to get to the good stuff (*wink wink*) you're going to have be in for the long haul! But I'll keep it exciting along the way, I promise. This chapter falls on the short side as well. I gave this an 'M' rating for future smutty goodness and possible (probable) future violence.

I do not own anything involving the incredible Avatar: The Last Airbender, but Bryke told me this story is pretty much canon. ;);)

_**Three Will Make the Perfect Pair**_

**Wrapped in Yellow, Pretend it's Gold**

76.

The number sneaked itself into Katara's daydreams, and once it presented itself, she was fixated. 76 days since the end of the 100-year war. She didn't necessarily like that she was keeping count, but there has yet to be a day when the mental tick hasn't popped into her head.

Trying to force her mind into wondering, she fluttered her eyes over the array of flowers that engulfed her. The garden was like a living fire pit, hundreds of flowers shimmering in an ombre of blood reds, to ripe oranges, to orchids that could have been mended out of gold. Katara wondered if she ever appreciated the garden before as anything more then the Fire Nations' plot for flowers.

The water bender leaned against a tree, exhausted.

"I'm slipping," she sighed heavily to herself. Thinking back through the previous 76 days, she tried to piece together all the details from every meeting in every nation. She held her head in her hands as her mind grew heavy, overwhelmed by the different narratives.

Some villages seek punishment, some need money, and some hardly have a town to speak of. So many requests, demands, needs, all running together in an indistinguishable slur. Overwhelmed, she closed her eyes, and behind the black drapes of her eyelids, she imagined snow blocks and people dressed in fur.

At least Gran-Gran has Sokka now, Katara reminded herself. She only spent three days with her grandmother before being whisked away to another crisis. She thought back to the brief time before after the war ended, when everyone was in one place, living together. She realized now how naive it was of her to believe it would stay that way.

Katara glanced at the palace in front of her, the gold and red paint dancing in the sun. Her whole life she feared and hated this very palace but now, it's the closest thing she has to a permanent residence. She and Aang even have their own suite, since their visits have become so frequent.

Katara sighed deeply remembering the room they have yet to share together. He left so quickly, hardly giving her a chance to say good-bye.

The chords of a soft, deep whistle slowly came around the distant bend, and Katara stood up straighter and smiled with pure delight. As her lips grew, a small but steady stream of guilt pressed on in her mind. But as the whistling man got closer, her negative warnings were flooded over by her present excitement.

"Oh, could my eyes be deceiving me? No, this cannot be, this honor is too great!" Katara sarcastically flung her arms over her head as she spun around to face her friend. Zuko gave a half smirk as he sauntered towards her. His lack of amusement had her crack-up and the Fire Lord's smile grew genuine.

"Was that entrance really necessary?" Zuko tried to mumble to upkeep his Fire Lord facade, but his soft chuckle betrayed him. Once again, he could feel the aches of responsibility and authority melt away, and what was left was just, Zuko. _She always brings me back._

Now relaxed, Zuko caught up to her before they continued walking through the Palace's flower garden. "Was it necessary to schedule five ambassador meetings in one day?" Katara crossed her tan arms, "I highly doubt it. I think you can put up with a little bit of my 'dramatizations'." Katara glared over at the fire bender, but grew distracted by the tall bush dusted in plain yellow flowers behind him. The most beautiful ones, the ones that glittered and danced amongst the stale leaves, were the closest to his eyes; as if his golden slivers whispered the secretes of how to be so damningly piercing...

"They're pretty, I guess," his voice cut through her thoughts and she shook her head to regain focus. "Assuming that's what you where staring at..." Zuko held his chin and smiled, purposely appearing egotistical.

"Could you be any more vain?" Katara nudged the fire bender out of his pose and giggled as the mighty Fire Lord struggled to regain his balance.

"Well, as I was saying before you so rudely decided to space off," he paused to hear the chime of Katara's laugh, "I was explaining that I got up two hours before you, and will most likely go to sleep two hours later then you." The stone bench ahead appeared ever more enticing, and the waterbender quickly followed his lead and sat down. "And this kind of work requires long days and sleepless nights... this is a permanent schedule. _My_ permanent schedule. I'll never get any real time away from it all... not that I'm complaining!" Zuko rushed, realizing he probably came off as whiny, and quickly covered his tracks. "This is my destiny, this is who I am... I need this. It's just," he paused and glanced at the water bender, draped in orange and yellow and her blue eyes staring kindly at him. Seeing him... too much of him.

"At least you'll be relieved of your duties soon!" His voice snapped as he looked down at his feet.

"You didn't have to take the job, you could quit any time-" Katara quickly regretted not speaking in thicker sarcasm, but her brother's gift for the banter hasn't quite rubbed off on her.

"Now you and I both know why that's not true," Zuko scoffed as he starred at his shoes, twisting his thumb as his face grew red. "You honestly think this was something I could turn down? It's not like this position has a lot of candidates, and you know that." His damn temper seeped out again, and when he faced Katara, her small smile was strained against her cheeks. Her eyes began to subtly fill, and she glanced away, pretending to admire the trees across the path.

Zuko was brought back to a ghostly memory of the similar strong, silent pain his own mother would display when she had to pretend to be content around him. And with the parallels, so clearly set in his mind's eye, the waterbender resembled a beauty he thought has long abandoned him.

With a cautious approach, he set his hand on her shoulder. Katara shuttered, slightly startled by his touch.

"I know its been a hard transition for you," Zuko tired to comfort her. And for a moment, she was. "But I hope you feel better knowing it's only temporary." Katara kept eye contact with him, although her smile faded. "Honestly, sometimes I wish I could take your place,"

"Why?" Katara abruptly stood up, letting Zuko's hand fall to the stone seat. "You honestly believe that being an ambassador for abolished air nomads is such an easy task?" Kataras' eyebrows forged together in piercing rage. "Well, probably for you oh Great and Powerful Firelord Zuk-"

"I'm not saying it's easy," the firebender mumbled looking down at his feet, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'm simply saying," his voice grew louder in octaves of anger, "that compared to being the ruler of a nation everyone hates and distrusts for the rest of my life, a month as an ambassador doesn't sound that bad!" Katara slapped him with enough force to leave his cheek as red as the scar above it.

For a moment, only Katara's heavy, angry breathing encapsulated him, blurring his senses. He starred into her fierce eyes, unapologetic for her actions. It was moments like these, when she was livid with righteous anger, that all resemblance of a young girl vanished, and what was left was beautiful, despite being annoyingly virtuous. The sting of her slap began to soften and he could convince himself it was the remaining prickles of her lips or her bite.

The silence broke when her voice strained. "At least you know the best interest for your own people! At least, you know their culture! Their own history!" Zuko stood silently. Droplets formed in her eyes as her body trembled. "I am not an air bender! I have no right to be making such... important decisions! I- I don't know what I'm doing," It's a rare sight, Zuko thought carefully, to be a witness when she's so frightened.

"Then you shouldn't have to." Zuko's bluntness pushed Katara's eyebrows together and her body regained stillness.

"Of course I have to! Aang asked me, no, pleaded with me..."

"Well maybe Aang's wrong." Zuko and Katara stood in silence, both suddenly warm, with locked jaws. The water bender realized she was in a fighting stance, and crossed her arms back in front of her, but turned slightly away from Zuko.

"Aang's not wrong." Her tone was scolding, like the death threats she use to give. But now he's not begging for her approval, or looking for a fight.

"You believe that, because he's the Avatar-" Katara quickly spinned around to face him.

"Don't you dare play that card Zuko!"

"Or maybe it's because he's your boyfriend! I don't -"

"So you don't think I can't make decisions for myself?" Katara stepped forward. Her fingertips could feel the water pulsating throughout the foliage.

"No!" Zuko's eyes bulged as he threw his hands forward. "That's the thing, I know you can! Aang's my greatest ally, not to mention my closest friend. I know the kind of… influence he can have on someone."

"Ha!" Katara shrieked as her arms flew above her. "These are sky bison Zuko! Do you not realize what this means?" Katara knew she was beginning to sound hysterical, but she continued, creeping closer to the firebender. "If the rumor is true, and there really are sky bison, who's to say there aren't more air benders? And you would drop everything too if you found out there were a colony of dragons!"

"Unless I had other, more important, world-building projects to do!" Zuko inched forward, the two were only a handshake apart. "And if I had someone who was smart, and capable, and who I trusted enough to let them be the ambassador of my own nation, I think... I think I could let them go off on their own and confirm if there are in fact any sky bison."

Katara's eyes suddenly welled with tears again, and her palms she shoved the firebender away from her.

"What are you trying to say Zuko?" Katara heaved staggered breaths as water automatically started forming around her hands.

"AANG MADE THE WRONG CALL!" Zuko strode up to her face, with furious eyes. Her hands lifted higher towards him, ready to dual. Fire coursed through his veins, fighting her was engraved into his muscles, he's become so familiar with this scene. But the warm energy pulsating through him began to trickle down below his belly button, tinkering with his dormant organ. His fighting strategy was bombarded with the phantom sensation of her fingers gripping his hair, biting his cheekbone-

Zuko sighed heavily, softening his stance, trying to clear his head. He wasn't going to let this stupid fantasy distract him from the issue at hand. But the warmth surging below his belt was concerning.

"I've heard you've been struggling to make the right decision, or just any decisions during the ambassador meetings. You're trying to rebuild a world and you're not even sure what's it's suppose to look like. I get it Katara," her face was still hardened in anger, as well as her raised fists gloved in water. Zuko grabbed her hands and the liquid splashed onto their feet. Slowly, he brought her hands closer to his jaw.

"So I don't know why the one guy who knows everything about this, who could really be needed, has left you here to make all the decisions," her fingers were now curled under his chin. She stared at him coldly, but the smooth spot under his jaw was distracting. "I don't think it's right Katara."

The firebender slowly slipped her index finger in between his thin lips. He noticed her own lips part and her eyes fixated on his mouth. He softened his grip, and her finger stayed put in him. Hesitantly, she inched her digit farther past the brims of his lips, scathing against his teeth and into the depths of his cavity. Her fingertip, moist and filled with foreign electricity, pressed its fingernail into his tongue, though in return it would smack her salty digit away with wet shoves . His lower member hardened as his eyes focused on her own blue orbs, then the silky tan skin that curved down her neck until it's hidden under her robes, that fluctuated from her breasts' staggered breathing. His tongue then flicked about the tip of her finger, and wrapped itself around her index in wet circles. Katara's mouth dropped and her chest seized up as she regretted every flicker of warmth that was building between her thighs.

The breathless gasp he drew out of her fostered the forgotten memory of his giggling tattooed friend waving good-bye only a week before. Despite his better, or rather, idiotic judgment, Zuko dragged her tanned skin out of his mouth and placed the pad of her finger on his lower lip. The pain and relief in her eyes was suffocating.

"I'm sorry," he let go of her and turned away from the mute waterbender. They stood in a silence that lacked the previous energy. "I'm sorry. I wish I could... save you, from the hardship-"

A metal whip slashed his arm, and Zuko plummeted to the ground. Katara and a large stream of floating water towered above him.

"I don't need you to save me. In fact, I don't want you to." Katara let the water crash down as she began to walk away with heavy strides.

"He won't be back for at least a month," Zuko shouted at her as he struggled to pull himself off the ground. "It's not going to get any easier!" Katara stopped walking but refused to turn around. "I know I'm not him, but my door is always open. If you need help," He mumbled to himself as he began to rise from the ground, "Help with the meetings, of course." Katara listened as the disgruntled firebender walked away, and waited until the sound of his footsteps vanished. She stood against the hallow breeze, trying to undo the connections Zuko has wired for her.

She once again passed the tall bush with the plain yellow flowers. They truly couldn't shine on their own.

Katara's hands flung up in front of her and her fingertips bent the moisture out of the yellow petals. The flowers hung, cracked and dried, and Katara swung her heal with brute force on the bush. The plant now stood bare and limp, and Katara starred at the withered petals on the soil. She shook her head, and continued her path to the palace.


	2. Chapter 2

Hello Everyone! First off, I want to thank everyone who even took a glance at this story, it means a lot to me, so thank you. And to the few of you that reviewed and are following this story, double-thanks to you! Considering what a bitch-and-a-half this was to both write and upload (spell check wouldn't work on half of story for some reason, and my file wouldn't upload so I had to copy and paste, but I did my best, blahhhh), _it would be really encouraging to see more reviews come in_. Critiques or questions or ideas or positive words... anything really! I'm writing for you guys, so I want to hear your thoughts.

Anyway, thanks for reading! This chapter's pretty long and action oriented, so I hope that appeals to a lot of you ;)

**The Man in Black**

The days that followed Katara after her fight with Zuko were a fog of mind-numbing loneliness. She remembered feeling a similar isolation trying to keep her friends alive as she attempted to guide them out of the Si Wong desert. She would have given up too, if it wasn't for the persistent reminder in the back of her mind of their purpose; that getting out would not just be beneficial to them, but to the entire world.

Katara sat in a room filled with bickering men in mostly bright, monochromatic green and maroon robes, and could no longer see a clear purpose for herself, or if there was one.

Her hopes as an ambassador for the Air Nomads when she first arrived weeks ago were strong, and the meetings went smoothly. She was obviously respected throughout, not only as a Hero of the War, but as one of the greatest waterbending masters of the time. But as the meetings progressed, her flawless image cracked under pressure, while her youth and inexperience with formal government became apparent. The other ambassadors in the rooms would argue about politics, currency, economic development, while pointing fingers at graphs and maps and each other. Katara's head was left drowning in buzzwords and jargon.

For the past few days, Katara's eye's glazed over in boredom as she absently watched old men quarrel. Some of the ambassadors would stare at her with a mixture of pity and awe, as if seeing a beautiful, rare bird cadged for display. And after the fight with Zuko, she realized that's all she was to these curious onlookers; a fighter dressed in drag. She was an ornament, not a crusader of real solutions.

So she did nothing. After the meeting adjourned, she took her dinner out of the dining hall, no longer wanting to sit so closely to Fire Lord Zuko as she usually would, and returned to her room. Although she enjoyed the silence, the room was obviously too large for one person. Too easily she could imagine Aang jumping on the bed, higher then what would be natural, and asking her to join. Or him calling out to her from the bathroom in a cheesy, low-pitched voice telling her he drew the bath but needs her to test the water.

Katara smiled slightly as she starred out her giant bay window, watching the sky cross the threshold into darker hues. Somehow, even when Aang does return, she doubts her fantasies will be any more fulfilled. Setting her drink aside, she pulled her legs close to her chest, resting her chin on her boney knees.

Aang was always affectionate towards her. He spoiled her with delicate kisses and always reached for her hand to hold. But she craved something more. She often tried to go farther then feeble kisses, and sometimes she succeeded. But most of her efforts were met with a brief peck on the nose and a sheepish grin. It was in these moments, as she wallowed in self pity and disappointment, that she became fixated, annoyed even, by his youth and persistent innocence.

"I can't live like this anymore," she mumbled as her aching fingers rubbed her temples. The ambassadors, the meetings, Aang's absences, Zuko's biteing words, Zuko's glaring eyes, Zuko's touch... her head tilted back against the wall and she rolled her forehead against the cold window glass. There was an amounting pressure on her chest that made her dizzy and suffocating, so she shut eyes and tried to concentrate on her rapid and uneven breathing.

All she wanted was to crawl into the bed's silky red sheets and dream away her anxiety. But her damn brain could never shut down when she needed it to, and especially with the past few nights, she was lucky to get even a few hours of rest. The sunset was melting into the black, but she knew it would be hours before she could even consider moving into her bed.

As the moon crept farther up the sky, the waterbender's blood began to tingle and the room that has haunted her for being too large was creeping in a little too close. The air was smothering as the red walls began to pulsate and inch themselves in closer to the waterbender. She pushed herself against the window, panting as her hand desperately searched for a latch. "I just need some fresh air," she heaved. But her search for an opening was fuitless the window stayed shut.

Katara blinked at the darkened room repeatedly, confused and terrified by the sight in front of her. She knew whatever she was seeing, whatever tricks her eyes were playing on her, shouldn't be real, _can't_ be real. She tried to convince herself she was only tired, or stressed, but with each alarming second the room was getting smaller. But she could feel the thud of her heart hammering uncontrollably against her chest and the warm sweat down her forehead confirmed it wasn't a dream. Katara took a deep breath, ready to sprint to the door closing in on her. _But what if the rest of the palace is shrinking?_

Panic-stricken, she turned to the window, hitting it with full force despite her shaky, clammy hands, but the glass wouldn't crack. She glanced over her shoulder, desperately wishing for this nightmare to stop, but instead gasped in horror as the walls rapidly closed in on her. Katara's body trembled with adrenaline and fear as she panicked for an escape. She suddenly felt her connection with the water in her dinner glass. _Did I forget I could bend?_

Katara drew the water out of the glass until it was floating in front of her face. She could hear the walls, piercing squeals caving in on her. Her stifled breathes made turning the ball of water into ice take too long. The walls were beginning to squeeze her, pinching her skin. Katara cried out as she breathed on the water as quickly as her shallow breaths would allow. The wall edges were cutting into her body; Katara let a shrill shriek escape her as she felt the warm liquid spill out of her arm. The orb in front of her was almost completely ice, but the pain in her arm was too agonizing, the red barricade still ripping into her muscle.

The squeals from the walls were deafening, and as she but as Katara struggled to position herself to jump, the high pitched noise transformed into a womanly squeal, and then a manic laugh. The laughter was coming at her from all sides, and with dizzying eyes she looked back to see the source of the ear-splitting noise.

Mouths. Large, insane lips, protruding from the walls, laughing at her in a familiar manic tone. Katara felt faint from the loss of blood, but cackling walls were too much_. _Black dots started splattering her vision, when she remembered the cold object in her hand.

Katara threw the completed ice ball at the window repeatedly, until the glass cracked. Her hair was damp and stuck to her face and she slammed her weight into the framework. Then the grimacing lips cried out in screeching unison, "You vile peasant _bitch_! Fight me, fight me, FIGHT ME!"

Katara heard the shatter before she felt herself topple over on the roof. The waterbender slid down the shingles headfirst before both her hands caught onto the edge and she was dangling two stories from the ground. Starring at the room she escaped from, it was too dark to see inside, but no laughter came through the broken glass. Katara took a few deep breaths before searching for an easier way to climb down.

But the voice from her room wasn't finished, its high-pitched scream hit Katara like lightning, and her panicked hands let go of the rooftop. She landed on her back, in the echo of the scream.

* * *

"Aang? My head hurts," the waterbender grabbed her pounding head and fluttered her eyes open to a night of spinning stars. She turned to face the airbender, but in his place were tall red flowers, and then she remembered, standing up with a gasp. Aang wasn't in the garden, but she was. Suddenly remembering the searing misery from her muscles being sliced she grabbed her tanned forearm, to take in the damage. But her skin was unmarked.

"No," Katara quickly tried to examine the rest of her body, but there was no torn flesh, cuts, or dried blood: only unruly hair and a sore shoulder. "But, it must have been real!" Katara's maddened eyes stared up at her bedroom window, almost wishing to find it unscathed so she could blame the event on a vivid nightmare and sleepwalking. But the window was broken, and pieces of glass along with tiles off the roof were lying by her feet. She picked up one of the shards, and wondered how none of the guards heard her.

The sound of a broken twig and rustled bushes had Katara spin around with a long water whip in mid-air.

"Hello?" Katara called out. She knew it could have been one of the nocturnal animals, but it was the way the bushes sounded, like someone was out of their element, trying to run but not be seen. "I've had a long night, come out now or I will attack!" Her whip grew larger, as she squinted into the distance.

"Why did you jump?" The voice was deep and calm, almost monotone, but it shook Katara to her core.

"Why don't you stop hiding in the dark and ask me in person," Katara demanded, trying to sound like the threat she was. But her mind had a tickle that wouldn't fade; what if he's not there?

"You were scared. You were screaming. What were they doing to you?" Something about his voice made her hairs stand on end. Real or not, she wanted him gone.

"I'm not asking you anymore!" Katara screamed, "Stand where I can see you or prepare for a fight!" Katara stood in her fighting stance with gritted teeth, but all she heard was silence. Impenetrable silence.

"Forgive me," the voice muttered in apologetic dread. A figure in head-to-toe black ran off into the open night, headed towards the palace. Katara threw her water whip at his feet but he dodged it with a backflip, while he flung spears in her direction. Katara quickly dodged the blades, but a shard caught the bottom of her pant leg as it hit the ground. Stuck to the earth, Katara jerked her leg as hard as she could and the cloth tore up to her thigh before she tore away from the orange silk completely.

The invader was no longer in sight, but the waterbender still ran forward.

"Guards! Guards! An intruder is on the premises!" Katara yelled at the palace as she ran alongside its wall. _Why is no one out here yet?_

"Master Katara!" the waterbender turned around to a tall, young guard with long, pulled back hair. "Where is the intruder?" The guard began to run forward with the waterbender.

"I saw him last headed this direction. But he's in all black and armed." Katara stopped and faced the guard. "Where is the rest of your fleet?" Katara cried out to the guard, almost wheezing.

"He got too many of them already Master Katara," the guard tried to report calmly, but panic seeped through his headgear and the waterbender could feel it coiling around her like a python-scorpion.

"Who's guarding Zuko?" Katara demanded, hysteric with the thought of him unprotected.

"I'm not-"

"Find him! Then tell him to find me!" Katara's eyes were deranged and bloodshot and the guard hesitated at the unhinged waterbender.

"GO!" Katara screamed before she continued her sprint, worried that the man was long gone. But as the waterbender rounded the corner, large hands of black quickly began covering her mouth and binding her hands as he pulled her into the shadows. A deep rumble hissed into her ears.

"Master Katara?" the waterbender aggressively struggled to break free of his grip, but his hands were crushing and even her element was out of reach.

"I don't know how I didn't recognize you, my dear," the deep voice cooed as Katara continued to desperately try to squirm away from him. "I've seen your pretty young face plastered around enough. I see more of you and that blasphemous bald-headed renegade you run around with more then I see my own face!" Katara felt his chest hit her back as he chuckled, and she realized how close she was to him. And for the first time since she awoke in the garden, she knew the danger was real, the man in black was real. And he was only human.

The man scooted himself and the waterbender, although she continuously struggled to pull away from him, against the palace wall, deep with-in the shallows.

"You've actually made my mission a tad bit easier for me darling, fetching the Fire Lord to come and great me, and for that," the man jarringly pulled her head in close, so she could feel his hot breath in her ear. "And for that, I thank you." Katara pulled back quickly in disgust and screamed as loud as could into the hand that muffled her.

"Careful now, don't want you bursting a lung." Katara never stopped fighting against the man's grip, but he was too strong and without her bending, she was outmatched. She cranked her head back, attempting to get a good look at her mysterious capturer. His head was covered with black cloth, with only slim slips for his eyes and a few vertical, narrow openings for where his mouth would be.

"I've been working on joke today, do you want to hear it?" The bender continued thrashing against him as he dragged her around the corner, keeping close to the palace walls. "I thought you would. Okay, so what do you call a boy who is unattractive, an idiot, and a liar," he spoke his last words in a long, sinister breath. "Fire Lord Zuko," the man began to choke up in mild laughter and Katara felt the slightest easing with the hand gripping her fingers. "They say the truth provides the best comedy. Oh and how true that is, because this 'Fire Lord'" his deep voice was seeping with sarcasm and hatred, "is nothing but a _joke_." Katara could barely twitch her fingers, but they were pulsating with energy. Water was close, and a lot of it.

"But the real question that has just been pestering my mind dear," somehow, Katara could hear him smile wider as his hand loosened once more. "Is the Fire Lord as hideous as he's described, _or is he worse?_"

Katara yanked her hands out of his grip and quickly bent a water whip from the near by fountain into the man's face. The man in black let out a snarl as he was forced backwards, while one hand instinctively reached for his cheek and the other deep into his robe grappling for his weapon. Katara quickly composed a wave, running forward as the water surged over her head, crashing the man in black against the wall, until Katara pinned him to it, freezing his body from the neck down.

Katara leaned over herself, hands on her knees, gasping for air. The fight was short, almost easy, but her muscles felt frail, and exhaustion was dangerously taking over. Her claustrophobic room didn't seem so fatal anymore. She jerked her head up to the sound of distant sprinting feet. She stared distantly over at the man in black, unable and not quite carring to make out his features.

"Hmm, I find being cemented in a rather large ice cube largely, unnecessary." The man purred. "I simply wish to speak to your unfortunate looking friend." His insult whipped her into reality, and before she could even justify it in her mind, she threw a sliver of ice that slashed his brown upper cheek. A trickle of blood cascaded down his jawline as he drew a slight smile.

"Temper, temper pretty girl," His eyes were black as they stared down the waterbender. "That "friend" you so desperately insist on defending is the very person you should be avoiding at all costs." Katara heard the clang and clatter of soldiers' feet from around the corner. "He is the knife at your throat, you simply haven't felt the pinch yet. But you will," his deep voice rippled through her bones, almost shattering her frame. Zuko was close to Katara's side as the man in black lowered his chin and kept his eyes focused on the waterbender draped in orange and red. "You all will."

* * *

The guard's hulking body became uneasy and unusually skittish after Master Katara's distraught demands. He could barely feel his feet hit the moon lit floor boards as he fled down the hushed hallway. Swinging around the corner, the Fire Lord's room was in sight. He bolted down the seemingly endless corridor, his panic clinging to him like his beads of sweat as he approached the guard-less doorway. Skidding to halt, he cranked his frenzied eyes in all directions before jerking at the door handle. The door gave no budge, and the guard let in a deep, stifled breath.

He quickly glanced at his surroundings to confirm he was alone, and after a moment's hesitation, began to beat the blood red door with the side of his fist.

"Fire Lord Zuko, are you in there?" the guard asked in a tone slightly above speaking volumes, too nervous about attracting attention. But the doors were as thick as a full grown tree, and he worried his voice couldn't penetrate the fortress. He began pounding more vigorously, his swollen hand leaving their echoed thuds in the hall.

"Fire Lord Zuko, there's an intruder in the palace yard! Master Katara sent me to-" An outburst of warm air and dim glowing light flooded his senses as he was pulled past the thick wooden threshold. The doors were shut quickly with an absolute 'click', and the guard's eyes quickly adjusted to the poorly lit scene. The walls were lined with weapons, and the incredibly large bed was covered in scrolls. He could make out about six other of this colleges, dressed in full armor, surrounding the Fire Lord himself, who was only in long silk pajama bottoms.

The young guard remembered who he was in the presence of and retracted his muscles to begin his bow, but the red cloth around his neck was yanked to the side, pulling him face-to-face with his superior.

"Are you _trying_ to get the Fire Lord killed?" The first lieutenant spat in a voice no louder then a whisper, but his face radiated anger. His large furry brows pushed together resembled black horns on his forehead, almost hooding his beady yellow eyes.

Zuko intervened quickly, pulling the young guard away from the raging man's grasp.

"Lieutenant," Zuko began calmly, "you can scold your corporal later, but for now, I need him." The First lieutenant rolled his small eyes under his too-big of brows before standing down. Zuko turned to the rattled guard, sighing deeply before he spoke with quite urgency. "You saw Katara? When?"  
"She, she was running along the east wall when I saw her, only a few minutes ago, now," the guard began to stammer, clearly shaken by Fire Lord's presence.

"But we just sent some guards to check up on her room, how was she already outside without coming across them?" Zuko questioned out loud. He could feel is heart start to panic beneath his chest.

"I don't know," the young guard cautiously continued, "but she said she already came across the intruder. And she looked, disturbed." Zuko's eyes grew at an alarming size, horrific images of Katara bombarding his mind.

"What do you mean _disturbed_?" Zuko's voice teetered on similar hysteria the guard heard in the waterbender. The orange hue from the candles shadowed the lines in the Fire Lord's features. The brutally damaged tissue of his scar took on a force of its own, penetrating the darkness with his squinted eye's unnerving stare. The young officer gulped before speaking softly, barely keeping eye contact.

"Her eyes were bloodshot, and her voice was panicked, she, she looked really beat up and... and her pant leg was ripped opened, and-"

"WHAT?!" Zuko's voice roared through the suffocating silence, shoving the petrified guard back against the wall. "WHERE IS SHE?!" Zuko heaved as he scrambled for the door handle.

"The north wall," the young officer scarcely breathed out before Zuko burst through the bulky doors and barricaded down the hall. The remainder of the kings gaurds quickly follow suit, grabbing weapons as the winds of their backs singed the remaining candle's. Only the young officer was left in the Fire Lord's chamber, lifelessly leaning against the maroon wall, alone in the dark.

* * *

Zuko couldn't hear the panicked rhythm of the heavy footsteps racing to catch up with him. All his senses were dulled, only being driven by terror that was straining his own heart. He ran out of his home into the brisk autumn air and slowed only for a moment to redirection himself towards the north wall. Then he was sprinting. His arms and legs pumping him parallel to the outer wall, straight down the garden. But his frenzied eyes were scattered throughout the courtyard, desperately searching for glimpses of her bending, her colors, her silhouette.

With every heaving breath that went without seeing her, he pushed his burning muscles to take him father, to make him faster. He was going to find her, he was going to save her and bring her home. The firebender couldn't breath, his limbs were searing and the lump building in his throat was aching for a release. With the edge of the palace fast approaching, Zuko managed to turn the corner without falling, his feet sliding silently against the damp grass.

And in the distance, was the waterbender, hands on her knees, glaring at the palace wall. He kept blinking repeatedly, unsure if her image traced in moon light was a mirage, or conjured out of his desperate imagination. But her wild hair faltered in the breeze, reminding him that she was real and at stake, and the Fire Lord bolted to her side.

She began starring at him, covered in dirt and matted hair, confusion was set clear in her features even from a distance. As he sprinted torwds her, he began to see the magic in her eyes, and his Katara was still in fierce control. That didn't stop him from worring, she didn't seem disturbed. Zuko prayed to the spirits the guard was wrong.

"Katara," Zuko breathed as he pulled her into him. Startled by the sudden intimacy, she shuttered as he squeezed his arms around her back. For a moment, Katara let the heat radiating off his chest envelope her in a blanket of warmth. His breath was steady but his heart was racing and in the back of her mind, the part she pretends she can't hear, she wondered if it was racing for her. Zuko took a deep breath of her musky hair, and Katara pushed away from his chest. The firebender still held on to one of her forearms, while his other thumb wiped away his sweat that glistened her cheek.  
"What are you-" Katara flinched away from his touch, and her eyes caught onto the soldiers approaching them, weapons and flames in hand. The black eyes frozen to the wall began siring her; somehow she forgotten about the sneering assailant. She wondered how long she was in his embrace, seconds? It felt like hours.

Katara pushed away from Zuko's grip, slightly embarrassed of her weakness, and pointed at the man in black. "I first saw him in the garden, but he ran," the guards reached the Fire Lord's side and she raised her chin a touch higher. "He attacked me, but I escaped from him. But clearly," she glared over at the man frozen against the wall, "He couldn't escape from me. I don't know what his intentions are, but he's defiantly after you Zu-" the waterbender spoke directly to the scarred bender but his golden eyes focused elsewhere.

Zuko felt the lump in his throat rise again when guards' light hit her left thigh. Torn from her ankle to her hip bone, the ripped edges of her pant leg fluttered in the breeze. The tear illuminated the side of her caramel leg up to the curvature of her bottom.

"Did he do this?" Zuko starred fiercely into Katara's eyes. She furrowed her brows at his abrupt hostility until the firebender glanced at her long stretch of bare leg.

"No! No, well... Yes. But-" Katara staggered away from him keeping her leg out of his sight, but Zuko's was already heaving with slim torches of fire licking his fingers.

"YES?" Zuko's blood boiled with rage as he ran up to the man frozen against the wall, his fists pumping flames, and pushed them close to the man's smirking face.  
"Oh my. You know Katara?" the man's deep voice boomed across the court yard. "In this light he's not half bad looking. Could use a hair cut-"

"Tell me how I look with flames in your sockets!" Zuko screamed as he brought his flame directly under the man's nose. The man in black only inched his head back slightly.

"But that would be unethical, wouldn't it Fire Lord? I do believe you've given up capital punishment."  
"Let this be an acception," Zuko growled.

"Zuko!" Katara screamed as she ran up to him, but the guards arranged themselves in a crescent shield, blocking her from his interrogation. Some held weapons, others let their flames burn tall in their hands, while Katara bent more water from the fountain behind her.

"Zuko tell your officers to stand down!" Katara yelled, but her voice hardly penetrated the Fire Lord's thinking. His concentration was focused on the man who wore a black cloth over his face, the only openings revealing his hooded black eyes.

"How dare you _touch_ her-" Zuko hissed while his flames edged closer to the man's face.

"No, Fire Lord Zuko," the man in black sneered, "how dare you sit at a throne that's not rightfully yours! Do you have to imprison people now to get them to stay? Holding Master Katara against her will like a caged animal!" His furious deep voice boomed his obvious hatred for the firebender, and Katara began to make-out the words being exchanged.

"What are you talking about? You don't even know her!" Zuko countered violently, but he couldn't mask the pain the man's biting words have caused.

"That may be true, but I can tell when someone is being held captive. Who's to say you're not holding everyone in your palace as your prisoner!" The man in black bellowed against the wall. "You are unfit to be called Fire Lord! You are a monster! A MONSTER!" His words hit Katara like bricks and she desperately tried to shove her way through the guards.

"I'LL SHOW YOU A MONSTER YOU COWARD!" Zuko's screamed in maddening rage as he pushed his flame against the man in black's covered face. The man yelled in horrific panic as the black cloth singed against his skin, a stream of smoke rising above his head.

"ZUKO STOP!" a small wave of water flew over the guards surrounding the firebender, crashing onto his hand and the man in black's face. His flame was replaced by a dampened palm and the firebender screamed to the waterbender he couldn't see.

"What are you doing? Are you crazy?"

"No, but-" Katara yelled, still trying to push aside the guards. "Tell your men to move Zuko!" The firebender was breathing heavily from aggravation, but he abided to her command and singled the officers to step aside. With Zuko in clear sight, her eyes narrowed angrily as she strode up to the firebender.

"What were you thinking?! You can't just burn his face because he made you angry, you know better! Have you gone mad?!" Zuko crossed his arms is defiance, but her words quickly softened his features. He didn't know what came over him, what had him act so recklessly. It was against everything he believed in, but the thought of some intruder hurting _her_ pushed him beyond reason.

"We need to save him for questioning," Katara pointed the man in black.. His cheek showed through the burned fabric, red and irritated from the scorching. She starred at the wound, shaking her head as her eyes closed from disappointment.

Zuko's anger as retreaded completely and he slowly placed his shaking hand on her shoulder. "I'm so sorry," he muttered softly as he forced back the tears that were stinging his eyes. "I'll never do that again, I'll make it right,"

"Then don't apologize to me," Katara snapped at the firebender. "Apologize to your victim." Zuko nodded coldly, then walked up to the man frozen in ice. The masked man's head was bent over, his breathing rapidly increased.

"Good thing your moral compass was here to guide you, since you clearly don't have one of your own." The man in black sneered, despite his grimacing.

"You're right," Zuko spoke softly, restraining his anger. "I am lucky." He could feel Katara's eyes straining against his back while her foot tapped impatiently behind him. "I, apologize for my actions," he could hear a breath of relief from the waterbender. "Although you've committed many crimes here tonight, you have a right to a judge and trail." Wide-eyed, Zuko looked back to Katara, who stepped forward to his side.

"After we unfreeze you I'll heal your wound before the guards take you away," she stated crudely. Face-to-face with the masked man's black, hateful eyes derailed her previous sympathy for him. The fire and waterbender gave each other a quick nod before thawing the ice the surrounded the intruder.

Slowly, the ice retreated from the man's neck, seeping down past his shoulders until his upper chest was free from the frozen prison. His left arm was still set in his robe, and Katara warned Zuko about his stashed weapons. The firebender continued to slowly melt the ice around his arm and chest, but grabbed the man's arm when he saw his hand twitching within his robe.

"Don't. Move." Zuko spat at the man in black, still gripping his arm.

"You think I'm stupid enough to attack you while my legs are still frozen to the wall?" His deep voice was laced with sarcasm as he rolled his eyes. "I simply ask that I adjust my tunic, after you, you know, _burned_ it out of place?" Zuko winced at his stinging truth. His actions against the man are an embarrassment to him now, staining the image he's worked tirelessly to rebuild. _She must think I'm a monster._

"Okay," Zuko mumbled, slowly retreating his hand off the man's arm. Katara was still working carefully on the right side of the man's frozen body. Melting the ice away bit-by-bit, clearly concerned that melting away too much at once could give the man in black a chance to escape. The firebender wasn't sure she even heard their exchange. Her brows knitted together in focus, and Zuko recalled it was the same determined face when she fought. He was always impressed by her skill and strength during a fight, but it was her unfaltering persistence that drove him wild.

A glimmer in the corner of his eye stole is attention away from the waterbender. He looked up to the hooded man, his tunic pulled up to his nose to uncover mouth. Between his fingers held a small, shiny black orb. The man in black winked at the firebender and tossed the glossy capsule down his throat.

"Noo!" Zuko screamed as he seized the man's hand, forcing it away from his mouth.

"What happened?" Katara retreated to her fighting stance, prepared for combat. The tablet was already swallowed, but the firebender forced the man's mouth open with one hand and stuck his fingers down his throat with the other. Katara screamed questions at him but he continued to shove his hand down the man's esophagus. The man in black's free arm tried to hinder the firebender as he cranked his neck away from the intruding digits. As the man's neck thrashed, Zuko's hand clenching his jaw slipped, and the man's teeth stabbing down on the firebenders' fingers until he tasted copper. Zuko forced them out, howling from pain and frustration.

"No! Damn it, no!" the firebender punched the man's chest repeatedly until Katara shoved him away.

"What's going on?" She shrieked with flailing arms. The guards have surrounded them now, swords and flames on the offense. Zuko gripped his hair, pulling it while he shook his head in horror, mumbling obscenities as he collapsed to his knees. Katara bent to down to consult him, when she heard multiple gasps from behind her. She turned to King's guard who stood wide eyed and mouths agape, and followed their stares to the man frozen from the waist down.

His body was thrashing against the wall, foam escaping his lips in white, bubbly streams. His black eyes rolled back until there was only white, and the veins on his neck tensed against his skin. Katara slowly lowered herself to Zuko, unable to stop watching the man flail around in agony. She tried to control her frazzled thoughts enough to think of a way to save him. Maybe if she forced some water down him, she could pull out the poison, or the moon's decently full, maybe she could blood bend it out...

As soon as Katara began to construct a plan, the man in black's body strained to stand upright, as if a string was painfully pulling the top of his head towards the sky. Everyone starred at his struggle in scared silence. Starring at Zuko, he spoke in suffering gasps.

"Long, live... the Queen." And with his last echoing word, he slumped forward, his face hitting the ice that still encapsulated his lower half.

* * *

No longer worried about him escaping, the dead man was thawed out quickly before being carried off to the morgue. The remaining gaurds escorted the benders back to the palace in stunned silence. Once inside, the Fire Lord thanked the remaining officers and told them to head back to their posts, that he would escort Katara to her room. She would usually be annoyed by the overly formal gesture, but after the night she's had, she was thankful for his presence.

Her bedroom was one of the furthest away from the grand hall, so their walk felt unusually long. Zuko held a small flame in his hand to guide their way. Her body shuttered despite feeling warm, he starred at her shaking frame, his eyes filled with worry.

"Are you okay?" he questioned genitally. After rising up the narrow staircase they continued walking down the longest hall without her answering. Zuko continuously glanced over at the waterbender, her eyes glued straight ahead them. He knew she wasn't okay, she was trying to stay strong for him, and herself. Zuko was never one to pursue a topic he deemed uncomfortable, but he couldn't stand watching her bottle everything in, aching for a release.

"Katara," he stood still and she turned to face him, though she wouldn't look him in the eye. "Are you, okay?" Every syllable he carefully but directly asked her broke through her neutral mold. She wasn't sure if it was the trauma or her exhaustion but tears she desperately wanted to hide rippled down her cheek.

"No, no I'm not okay," she uttered. Zuko wasn't satisfied to see her cry, but watching her let her guard down for him was strangely comforting. "He just, _killed himself_, right in front of everyone." She whispered as she continued to push the droplets away from her face. Acutely aware that the firebender was starring at her, she quickly dried her eyes and looked back at him shyly. Her brows suddenly forged together.

"Wait, how did you know he was going to," she gulped as the suicide played over again in her mind, "you know, end it?" Zuko's hand not holding the flame reached behind his head. Katara tried to advert her eyes as the light bounced off his pectoral muscles. She scolded herself for getting so distracted after something so horrific just too place. But her eyes always glanced back at his pale flesh.

"Well, it's a pill our army gave to certain field operatives. It was known as the Poisonous Pebble." Katara's mouth dropped as she worked through his words.

"Wait, so it was _suppose_ to kill them?" the waterbender starred in shock.

"Yes, for suicide missions." Zuko shuttered at the idea of commanding his soldiers to kill themselves for him. It wasn't too long ago when they would have to. "You can tell they were from the Fire Nation because of it's shiny black exterior, that's how I knew what it was when I saw it." Zuko let himself lean against the wall.

"But they were heavily regulated and in short supply," he glanced at the listening waterbender, narrowing his vision on specks of dirt that freckled her face. "I don't know how he got a hold of one," he caught her eyes in his gaze. "I ended the manufacturing of them once I got here." He wanted to make her remember that about him; not as a cruel monster that burned faces as punishment. His only reassurance was her small smile.

He tried to repay the smile, but his mind wouldn't let him look at her without the man in black's words plastering her image._ Prisoner. Captive. Cadged. _He knew very well that Katara was anything but a prisoner in his home. She had more free will then anyone, including himself. But he couldn't shake the feeling the dead man knew something he didn't.

"Um, Katara, can I ask you something about what the man out there said. Not that expect you to understand what he meant, it's probably just garbage anyway, but, you know, if you do, maybe, well-" Katara rose an eyebrow at him.

"Stop being a goof, and spit it out," she teased. Truthfully, she really liked when he was like this, tongue-tied and awkward. It reminded her even the Fire Lord's only a teen. Zuko smiled sheepishly before taking breath and beginning again.

"Do you have any idea what that man meant when he said-"

Two female guards interrupted him as they ran around the corner, calling out for Zuko. He excused himself as he jogged to officers. Katara knew she could have kept walking, her room wasn't too far away now. But, despite her better judgment, she wanted him to take her the rest of the way. Suffocating walls with protruding lips kept haunting her, their laugh was piercing in her ears. Fatigue was aching throughout her body, but the walls, that laugh... sleep looked impossible tonight.

The guards left and Zuko slowly approached the waterbender. His brows were forced together as he hesitantly approached her. Even without a flame in hand, she could make out his strained features.

"Katara, I _need_ you to be honest with me." He starred at her torn pant leg up to her baffled eyes.

"I'm always honest with you," she stated as he continued to examine her under his scrutiny.

"Did that man, the one who died," Katara grimaced as the memory forcefully replayed in her head once more. She wished he wouldn't refer to him like that. "Did he attack you in your room tonight."

"What?" Katara stuttered as she backed away from the firebender. She wished she went back to her room without him. She couldn't begin to explain what happened earlier tonight, her hallucinations. Truthfully she wasn't sure if that's all they really were.

His eyes narrowed into burning slits. All the pieces were starting to fall into place. The broken window, the dead man's words, her torn pant leg. But she was holding back information, the missing link that would solidify all the parts, paint the larger narrative. He needed her admit to the attack, need her to confirm that there was an attack. _Prisoner. Captive. Cadged._

"No, he didn't. I think it's time I go to bed-" she turned to retreat from the questioning but his hand latched onto her wrist a pulled her back under his enraged gaze.

"You said you would tell me the truth," he breathed angrily.

"I am telling the truth!" trying to pull herself out of his grasp, but he grabbed her other wrist and pulled her in close.

"I don't believe you!" his breath was hot against her skin. "Guards found broken glass outside your window, but your door was still locked. I know he broke in Katara, now tell me the truth!" he was shaking her wrists, trying to rattle the real story out of her.

Her mind was brought back to them in the garden. The way he accused her, how he diminished the distance between them as he yelled at her face, his hands wrapped firmly around her wrists... she could still feel the wet strokes of his tongue on her index finger.

But she's grown tired of him interrogating her, tired of him treating her like she was helpless, tired of flirting with a jerk who only wanted to control her. Mostly, she was just tired.

"Why don't you stick my finger in your mouth, you seem to think that will change my mind." He could have been struck by lightning, his reaction was the same. She kept her narrowed eyes and husky remark cut into him like daggers. Starring at her blankly, she pulled her hands out of his grip and quickly spun away from him, letting her dirty hair smack his chest.

Her room would only take footsteps to reach now. She almost relished the laughing walls, compared to his narrow minded, controlling, hot-headed-

Forcefully spun around, her back slammed against her door, and she once again strained to gaze up at the Fire Lord. His hands pinched her shoulders and his body trembled in livid anger.

"Don't you dare pretend what happened between us was one sided," he huffed at her unflinching face. She wasn't scared of his intimidation. "Things probably would have gone further if I haven't stopped you."

"Stop it!" Katara replied calmly, but the nagging corner of her mind replayed their encounter, reminding her he was right. She shook her head, "Jut stop it, okay?"

"Then tell me the truth! Just tell me what happened!" He screamed at her, refusing to let her run away from him without a damn explanation.

"I told you-"

"You told me nothing Katara,"

"So what then?" She screamed at him. His breath landed directly on her lips, if she leaned in, she could kiss him. _Maybe that would distract him._ Zuko's eyes glanced from her mouth to her eyes, then around her door frame. He leaned in father, the very edge of his lips brushed against her own.

"Then, I'll have my officers' guard your door," he breathed into her. She backed away from his words as if his breath way poison gas. " At all times."

"What?! No, you can't!" Katara panicked against him until she jammed her knee into his thigh. Wincing in pain he stifled away from the waterbender. Katara's could only see menacing red walls, cutting into her with no where to escape.

"Please Zuko," she pleaded as she shrunk against the doorway. She can't be forced to live with that laugh, that evil, sinister laugh. Zuko bent down and grabbed her tan cheeks, holding them softly between his palms. He couldn't understand why she was so distressed but he wasn't going to let her live in fear. He would protect her no matter how much she fought against him.

"Then tell me what happen," he whispered. She wanted to muster up the courage to admit what she couldn't make sense of. But she knew if she said the words out loud, she could never take them back, never erase them from his memory of her. How could she admit that she doesn't know what's real or imaginary anymore. When she tried to form the sentences in her mind, no matter how delicate or vague she phrased them, they all sounded crazy. She sounded crazy.

She took a deep breath and Zuko's brows raised with optimism. Her hand reached above her until it grabbed a hold the door handle. Slowly lifting herself away from his touch, she leaned into the door until it open, and swiftly let herself inside, closing everything out behind her.

The Fire Lord let his forehead fall onto the doorway, trying to control the urge to sob or burn it down. Minutes ticked by without a sound from the other side, so he slowly turned back down the long hallway to retrieve his guards.


End file.
